OpenAI says research org runs 3.1 agent-workdays per human workday
Cklly2004 · reddit · 2026-09-08
OpenAI published new internal data on how its researchers use coding agents:
- The research organization now uses 3.1 agent-workdays of effort per human workday, while researchers write more code and run more experiments than before
- Delegated work has grown more complex, reaching the goal of an "automated research intern" handling well-defined tasks that would take a skilled researcher several days
- Humans still set priorities and judge results; over half of successful 4–8 hour tasks required at least one human intervention
The post ends by asking whether humans are becoming research managers while agents provide most execution.
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